>* ... but you are not being critical. You're just being obtuse.* //
I disagree. One is being critical.
If however you try to use that as an excuse not to perform the calculation then you're definitely being obstructive.
It is absolutely right for a student performing such calculations to realise there are issues with it not being realistic. They should understand that it's an approximation and understand that even in a perfect, flat, frictionless world it's still an approximation [relativistic mechanics are not being used] but that nonetheless it's a useful model the result produced by Newtonian mechanics is useful.
Indeed I'd say the realisation and ability to express the limitations mark out a student as capable of analytical thought.
>it actually makes it easier for the students to practice and internalize the concept they're learning. //
I fear you're making the calculation the end in itself (we have computers for that!) and not the subject of critical analytical thinking which IMO defines mathematics.
> I fear you're making the calculation the end in itself (we have computers for that!)
Well, I have to disagree. Of course it's rather silly to make the calculation the goal in itself, but one needs to have a decent "feeling" of what would happen in a given domain. In math (up to college freshmen) or physics, that involves a lot of number-crunching. Until you get familiar with it.
It's same as CS students implementing quicksort, merge sort, heapsort, etc., even though when they graduate they will all use libraries. You can't really grok quicksort by reading the textbook and say "Hmm, I see."
You can grok most sorting methods remarkably well, though, by lining up a bunch of office junk on a big table and working through the sorting algorithm physically.
I disagree. One is being critical.
If however you try to use that as an excuse not to perform the calculation then you're definitely being obstructive.
It is absolutely right for a student performing such calculations to realise there are issues with it not being realistic. They should understand that it's an approximation and understand that even in a perfect, flat, frictionless world it's still an approximation [relativistic mechanics are not being used] but that nonetheless it's a useful model the result produced by Newtonian mechanics is useful.
Indeed I'd say the realisation and ability to express the limitations mark out a student as capable of analytical thought.
>it actually makes it easier for the students to practice and internalize the concept they're learning. //
I fear you're making the calculation the end in itself (we have computers for that!) and not the subject of critical analytical thinking which IMO defines mathematics.